Churchianity in Nigeria. Since my arrival in Lagos, I had been touring constantly, and it felt good to finally get out and see things that other people talked about so much. Driving around the streets of lagos with no idea where we were going to brought me very close to happiness. Last sunday tour will serve as my topic for today. That day made everything else seem so distant and trivial. We drove round the city to pitch tent in any big church around. It surprised me to observe different kind of names our churches bear these days. Such names as: Legend of the Seeker delivery Ministry E dey work ministry The Guided Missiles Church Overcoming the man Ebola Ministry Jehovah sharp sharp That witch craft must die delivery Ministry Ministry of the Naked wire Trigger Happy Ministry Liquid fire ministry Seven Thunders of Jesus Salvation Army shelter ministry. Talking about churches in lagos and their funny names. There are uncountable number of them. Wasnt able to write down the whole names, but I have to wonder who decided the names of these churches. Their names really cracked me up. Trigger happy, are you??? Lol However comical and factual in existence some of these names are, it speaks to a larger concern in the religious climate in Nigeria today. I am not exactly qualified to comment on these phenomena, but I must say that the trend has become very laughable and is becoming more of a mockery to those who are walking and living in truth. My recent research to understanding the reason behind this trend made me observed that the causes of these names are due to the overwhelmingly expansion of todays churches. Pastors seem not to find a suitable name to give to these new churches anymore. Aha ulo uka agwugo (church name is finished) Lol. This brings me to another topic Church expansion Yes! There should be however no pretence about the fact that the purpose of church expansion is not for the souls that will come to God from the venture but for the economic advantage it brings. And this is too bad. And as it holds no one at whether pentecostal or orthodox churches are excluded from the materialism in expansion. Though we are not to neglect the fact that these parishes or branches are of great influence to people around their community but must these churches be held under one central control? If the intention is right, wont they just plant a church and allow it to grow on its own without any central hold on its activities. My point is this: the commandment of Jesus is to make the disciples of all nations and that is the vision of its church. Establishing of churches is not the sole reserve of these churches to do this, but the body of Christ. Therefore it is the duty of a particular church to partner with other churches in areas they want to share the gospel so that the body of christ is moving forward instead of further being divided. It runs the risk of focusing on expanding the church rather than on expanding the kingdom reach. Most times these branches are not opened because there is need to expand in the community, rather on the need to expand the business and increase membership. These churches are normally not autonomous units but carefully managed from the head church as seen in most orthodox churches worldwide. How many preachers lead people to the Lord and direct direct them to another church as members? Why would a church convince a person to travel more than 10miles to attend their service, even though this is a living church around that person? Something else is at play as you can rightly guess. Until we enter an era when churches collaborate with each other and seek to focus squarely on the common purpose of making disciples, I am sorry to say, they are mostly business men in dire competition seeking to expand their channels of profit. I know it has been greatly abuse by some, but soon the shaft will be separated from the wheat.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 19:24:15 +0000
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